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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Tyrone Power Day: Why You Should Be Watching Him + DVD GIVEAWAY!

Well, well, well. I personally do not have TCM, but my sources tell me that today is indeed Tyrone Power day on TCM. I only know this because Kate has been annoyingly counting off the days until this glorious day.*

*I may or may not be lying.

The schedule has an interesting mix. It relies perhaps a bit too heavily on '50s films -- AND THERE'S NO JAMIE-BOY IN SIGHT -- but every Ty is still awesomely perfect.

There are many reasons why you should be watching today. Tyrone Power is truly an underrated actor -- during his life and even more so today. He also even rather underestimated himself.

He longed (and fought) for roles with gravitas, and he excelled in those that he was given (my personal favorite of those would have to be Nightmare Alley aka Mind-Searing Brilliance). But, I don't know if he realized just how good he was in the less-obviously-weighty-drama roles.

He started out as sort of the romantic lead to popular female co-stars and quickly became a swashbuckling, fencing hero (one of the best fencers in Hollywood, according to Basil Rathbone), only to also play rollicking war heroes and misunderstood outlaws and to be the victim of a crazy amount of movie natural disasters. And that was just in the first few years of his profession.

He filled a screen, but never overtook it. He could play characters that were larger than life (Zorro, Jesse James), but make them actual characters. He could project himself into any role, but still make the performance unique and different.

And on top of this, he played an incredible amount of actual jerks -- but with so much charm that one cannot help but LOVE HIM FOREVER.

So, yes. These are reasons why you should be watching Tyrone Power: he was awesome, brilliant, talented, hilarious, cool, and impossibly beautiful (just try watching a movie with him and Gene Tierney and NOT gasp at the sheer gorgeousness of the two).

Suffice to say, I'm a fan.

And, I'm not even sad about not having TCM today -- because I already have far too many Ty films on DVD. I'm thinking a marathon is in order. {Starting with The Black Swan. And the perfection of Jamie-boy.}

And, honestly, I think EVERYONE should have Ty dvds on hand so they don't have to wait for TCM -- they can watch him any time of the day or night. (Just don't watch them alone in your room at 3am while drinking ice tea and eating pretzels. Apparently, that's "sad" or "pathetic" or something. Not that I would know.)

With that in mind, I am going to give away a copy of Jesse James. It's brand-new, still in its lovely plastic wrap. Jesse James is honestly rather strange. But, also awesome. Ty and Henry Fonda play the James brothers with matching mustaches.

This is a classic Ty role, because you will completely find yourself believing in the goodness and heroism of poor, misunderstood Jesse James. You will also hate Randolph Scott with an undying passion, but that's normal.

GIVEAWAY INSTRUCTIONS:

To enter to win this DVD, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me why Kate should love Tyrone Power (aka why is Tyrone Power awesome). If you have never seen Ty in anything (you poor soul), let me know why you want to now see him. Leaving a comment that says "his face" is perfectly acceptable.

It would be lovely if you were following me, but not necessary.

The contest will be open until September 25th when the winner will be chosen at random.

7 comments:

Kate should love Tyrone Power because he was the greatest swashbuckling hero of the screen to ever live (Ty could really fence--Errol Flynn couldn't), he made the greatest pirate movie ever (The Black Swan), he made the best version of The Mark of Zorro ever, and even as a guy I have to admit he was dashing and handsome!

She should love Tyrone Power for as under-appreciated as he was in his day, and as virtually forgotten by all who aren't classic film fans today, he gave everything his all. I myself have not seen too many of his films, but what I have seen, I love him.

KATE SHOULD LOVE TY BECAUSE IT IS HER DESTINY TO LOVE TY. SHE MUST ACCEPT HER FATE.

Actually, she should love Ty since he's handsome and debonair and charming. And because he's positively brilliant at EVERYTHING. Comedy, drama, westerns...and being prettier than Gene Tierney. (How many actors can claim that?)

I really don't think there's any excuses for not adoring Ty at this point, Kate. I mean, Millie has ME converted....and you know I didn't appreciate Mark of Zorro at first. Even The Black Swan didn't fully melt my heart. AND YOU'VE PROBABLY SEEN MORE TY FILMS THAN I HAD WHEN I JOINED THE TYRONE POWER APPRECIATION CLUB.

So yeah. Just admit that you secretly watch Ty films at 3am and we'll all be happy. ;)

I taped the whole day - I have all the films but I wanted to hear the intros and then what was said after the film. It was wonderful to have him featured in Summer Under the Stars, and thanks to all the complaining fans. I don't know if you realize it but TCM left Ty out of "The Fifty Greatest Leading Men of the Studio Era" - and included people who weren't in the studio era. He did appear in their Great Screen Couples book, though. I think their agenda was to push TCM stars. But now, thankfully, Ty is one!

Kate should love Ty because his name is awesome. Also, he has nice hair, a nice face, and very handsome eyes. She must watch Razor's Edge! If she has watched this film and still claims not to love Ty, she's in denial and should be forced to watch it again!

Millie, you can put me out of the promotion, since I'm from Brazil.Well, both the movie Marie Antoinette and you converted me to Ty-love. how can Kate not be a convert too?Anyway, you should try telling Kate that Ty loved cats, astronomy and grapefruit. Note that these were secret loves, that's why there is no concret proof. :)Kisses!

First, let me say what a wonderful writer you are. If I could write like you, I'd write the book I've been wanting to (the one about Ty's films and Errol's films). Sigh, maybe one day.

I've read Kate's old movie blog and have noticed that she and I have some similarities in our personal tastes. She likes Barbara Stanwyck, and I like Barbara Stanwyck. She likes cats, and I like cats. She likes James Mason, and I like James Mason. Ditto James Cagney, ditto James Cagney. And while I'm not the huge Dirk Bogarde fan Kate is, I like Dirk. So, it seems inevitable that she'll come around one day and realize that not only is Tyrone Power a superlative actor but one of the most drop-dead gorgeously gob-smackety handsome men ever ever ever to walk the face of the earth.

I watched quite a few Ty movies before it hit me like a lightning bolt: "Not only is he a good actor, but. . ." Well, I won't quote exactly what I said, but it's something to the effect that he's the most drop-dead gorgeously handsome and so on man EVER. His movies are entertaining and often moving and mesmerizing. Kate's a smart girl. She'll see the light.